The business hopes that launching the technology will further increase the convenience of shopping for its customers, providing them with a quicker and easier way to pay for products. The contactless terminals will allow shoppers to make purchases of up to £20 without the need of a PIN.

Kevin Widdrington, IT director at Costcutter, said: “Costcutter Supermarkets Group is one of the first symbol groups to install this technology across the independent retail sector and puts our retailers on par with the multiple operators who use the same payments technology in their stores.

“Contactless payment speeds up transactions, making paying for your shopping quicker and therefore more convenient. The cost per transaction can also be significantly lower than traditional chip and pin payments, offering potential cost savings for our members.”

Costcutter has teamed up with payment solutions provider Box Technologies to introduce the terminals, which will permit payments through credit/debit cards as well as from NFC-enabled smartphones.